pitbulls

[lute]

So true. But I do understand what Lute is saying.
I recentally read of a Cairn/Poodle mix that attacked an infant while it was asleep. Long story short (and lots of questions about the mom's competancy) the infant lived but needed reconstructive surgery and the pup was put down.
Now. Let's say I posted that article online on a dog forum (I actually did). How many replies do you think it would get that said all Cairnoodles ( ) are inherintally aggressive, they should be liscensed like we liscense guns, they would never trust them, that groomers, doggy daycares, parks, and other places as such have the right to discriminate against them, and that insurance policies shouldn't cover them.
Funny, because a Pittie attacked a boy and the boy needed reconstructive surgery and those were the exact words that were coming out of people's mouths. It was the dog's fault. And yet, when I posted about the Cairn/poodle mauling, everyone was blaming the mother - not the dog. There were no sayings of "in the right hands this dog can be a wonderful mix". Nope, and BSL wasn't brought up at all.

Go figure.

I think the problem today is that is the Pitties turn in the "limelight". It was the Rotties, Dobermans, Chows, and GSDs. Those breeds were once the "pitbulls" of today. I'm just waiting for the focus to shift off of Pitties and onto another breed of dog...I'm just afriad of what it is going to be.

Yes, that is exactly what I'm talking about. Like you said, when talking about most other breeds or mixes other than pitties you get a totally different excuse of "who's" fault it is.

I just hope that someday nobody thinks of any breed as dangerous. Look deeper into the issue. See that any breed turns out this way by fault of the owner.

[Jessika]

We had a guest speaker come in to school, she is a lawyer with the ASPCA and a huge Pit fan. She would tell us all kinds of stories, but one that stuck out the most was -

she had two print-outs of probably 25 or so different breeds, and only ONE picture on each was an actual Pit Bull. She asked the class to try to identify the pit bull on the first slide. Every single one of us got it wrong. She asked us to identify the Pit Bull on the second slide. All but one student got it wrong.

She says she uses that when she gives presentations to police and other public forums and really pushes the whole BSL is wrong deal and a lot of times it's misidentification. When she shows it to police, how many times out of hundreds do you think they identified it correctly? That's right -- none.

So it's amazing to me that pittys have such a bad rap... but yet... no one can actually IDENTIFY one correctly in the first place!!!


She also told me another story about how DNA testing saved this dog's life. A man's dog was going to be PTS for no reason other than he RESEMBLED a pit bull (I say resembled, because the owner fought that he was indeed not a pit bull). Authorities of course said he was one and he was scheduled to be PTS. The owner decided to get DNA testing to confirm that his dog was not a pit, and the results came back, and he wasn't. The dog was released back into his custody and he still lives happy today


Another statistic, if I may... She also presented us with statistics on dog fighting going back probably till the 1920's or so. As far back as records go in the US, anyway. Of every single dog mauling ever, no death has ever occurred from a neutered pit bull male, translating to: responsible dog owners who spay and neuter their pets (and pits, of course), are MUCH less likely to become aggressive and "maul".


I just think, if more people were educated about what a pit actually LOOKS like first instead of lumping all the bully breeds together, and of course SPAY AND NEUTER, which to me is OBVIOUS, that's a step in the right direction...

[Blackrose]

I just think, if more people were educated about what a pit actually LOOKS like first instead of lumping all the bully breeds together,

That too. here is a story to give you a laugh:

My family and I were at my grandparents' house. Across the street was the HUGE Doberman barking his head off at us (he was in a fence, thank God, but considering the fence was only about four feet high....). My older brother (he was probably 18 at the time) looks at the dog, then looks at me and asks, "Is that a Pit Bull?" I just start busting up laughing and he can't figure out what is so funny. I tell him no, it is a Doberman, and he gets this sheapish look on his face and says, "Oh, ya, I knew that. I just couldn't remember what they were called."

Just goes to show you how the common public identifies breeds.